


It's a Promise ( But Not Exactly An Engagement)

by Wolfie1991



Series: Precious Left Eye [2]
Category: Bayonetta (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Prequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-10 07:17:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15286521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfie1991/pseuds/Wolfie1991
Summary: The life of a Witch only truly started with a pact and Jeanne had just seen history happen. Cereza, her Cereza, had crawled out of Inferno with a pact so coveted that the assembled Umbra were stunned to their core.And now, at long last, they could be free.





	It's a Promise ( But Not Exactly An Engagement)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 4 of the Bayonetta Week 2018 with the prompt Freedom, a prequel to Precious Left Eye (that was also a Bayonetta Week prompt lol)

And there it was. **  
**

Cereza emerged victorious from the pocket of Inferno she had clawed her way into in a storm of dark energy and the raw, unstoppable power of Madama Butterfly the Mistress of Atrocity.

Who else to forge a successful pact with one of the most powerful and unpredictable denizens of Hell if not her very own Cereza.

It was the most breathtaking moment of Jeanne’s young life and it was all she could do to keep from jumping the veranda, away from her mother’s stern gaze and into the arms of her lover.

There was no more taking it back, there was no more denying, no more casting doubt, no more censure or hindering. Cereza, her Cereza, the best friend she had, the only other Umbra she could trust, was now unmistakably, intrinsically Umbra and she had held fast to even the harshest of challenges.

She had a pact, a pact many a witch would have died to have ( many had, in fact) and it meant their society had witnessed such a thing, leaving them no choice but to offer respect.

Served them right.

Cereza was breathing hard, bleeding from a thousand holes, her glasses had since fallen to the wayside but still hadn’t summoned the will to pick them back up.

  
  
The Elder and the gathered Umbra said nothing for the longest time, looking on with varying looks of apprehension and surprise.  
  
Finally, her mother put them all out of their misery.  
  
“Dismissed” was her only word and she turned back and disappeared through the dark building of their proving grounds.

She was loathe to leave her beloved when she was wounded and exhausted but despite everything, these were hallowed grounds and no harm would come to pass to her from her fellow Sisters. Jeanne couldn’t tip her hand too soon or all of their hard work would be for nothing.

With feet as heavy as lead, she followed after her mother but as she looked back one more time, Cereza was looking at her and Jeanne smiled back so proud and so big her soul swirled with dark energy.

Her mother would retire to ponder on the turn of events she had created when she let her own misgivings lead her to thinking Cereza would perish attempting a contract. Not only had she returned but she came back triumphant like Inferno had accepted her as it’s ruler, the Elder had plenty to think about and Jeanne would certainly use that to her advantage and squirrel Cereza back to her room to drench her in healing concoctions.

* * *

 

Cereza dragged herself upright as everyone streamed out of the arena, promptly falling back on her knees and barely keeping herself from collapsing back on the dirt and blood.

The first rays of sunshine hit her back and she sighed, rubbing her dirty face with an equally soiled glove. Madama Butterfly slithered through their link, a sort of phantom in the back of her mind and she wondered if she would ever feel truly alone ever again.

Jeanne and her mother had done their best to prepare her for her proving and yet the task had been both very similar yet nothing at all like what they had mentioned. Inferno wasn’t for the ill prepared and she had almost been a victim of it. The Mistress of Atrocity was brutal and harsh, far more so than many of the other demons whose domains she had briefly touched before being drawn into the Madama’s domains and she was still reeling from her trial.

As if sensing her thoughts, a dissonant chuckled breezed by her soul and Cereza bolted to her feet in fear. Sheba, what had she gotten herself into?

Her legs more or less cooperated with her, the dawning day not doing her any favours in terms of healing faster. Where was a full moon when you needed one?

She managed to stagger to her dwellings and all their ruins in disrepair charms but at least there was a modestly soft surface for her to collapse on and no one to harass her.

Not anymore.

Slumping on her bed, she felt the welling of a smug satisfaction at the way the other witches had looked at her on her way to her room - fear, reluctant respect and a newfound appreciation for her ability to inflict copious amounts of hurt.

A soft knock sounded at her door and she did a quick scan. Jeanne!

Cereza sprang out of bed, leg failing her landing and making her stumble into the piece of junk she called a desk with a pang. Uprighting herself with a wince, she padded to her door and dispelled her wards in one smooth gesture.

Jeanne was there, looking so lovely and Cereza did her best to not kiss her in plain sight. It seemed she didn’t care either because the door was slammed open and Jeanne captured her lips in a fierce kiss that left her somewhat dazed and clutching her rickety bedroom door.

“I’m so proud of you, so so proud.” She started, gingerly touching the bleeding claw marks and bites on her Formal with worried gestures. “Come back to my room….I have a bathtub full of salve.”

“Enticing, I won’t lie.” She felt Jeanne’s body heat radiating in her freezing room and into her battered bones, a salve of it’s own as she leaned against her body in a loose hug.

Her injuries caught up with her much faster than she would have liked but Jeanne’s arms circled her closer and supported her weight in full. “I can carry you, the halls are clear and mother is…she’s assessing and won’t come anywhere near for the rest of the week I’m sure.”

Plus, no one dared to enter the heir’s room uninvited. With a contract, she was full Umbra and to trespass into another’s vital space was a sin of the highest calibre. Sometimes she wondered if she couldn’t convince Cereza to just…move in permanently.

Cereza hummed and blinked against her coat, making a big effort to keep her eyes open. With a feather light touch, she was lifted off her feet into a comfortable carry for her height and she surrendered to the plush comfort of Jeanne’s front.

The trek between their rooms had been perfected by a decade of sneaking around and the vast, expansive wealth of abandoned tunnels, secret rooms and panic exits that existed around Luna. Cereza was fast asleep, occasionally mumbling something when Jeanne jostled her on some steps that she promptly soothed with a kiss to her fluffy, black hair.

A final door separated them from the large antechamber that gave way into the door to her bedroom. The floor was all hers and it had more secret entryways and exits than what she knew what to do with.

Paranoia ran deep it seemed, in their ruling class but she couldn’t help but wonder - all that exited, also entered but so far she hadn’t had any assassination attempts coming in through the old tunnels.

Fragrant herbs and comforting heat from the fireplace greeted them as Jeanne kicked open the door and deposited Cereza on her bed, despite her protests of not wanting to soil the luxurious duvet.

“Don’t worry about my bed, just rest up for a while.”

Cereza cast a bleary eye her way and she still got up to take off her gross hood and shoes before slumping back with a happy sigh. “You have that look about you that tells me you’re going to head off somewhere.”

Jeanne nodded with a reluctant motion. “ Just for a bit, I need to go do something… I’ll join you for the bath when I return?”

She lifted her head and tried to keep her apprehension off her features. Jeanne wasn’t exactly an elder Umbra, who knew who still thought they could just barge in there and if they found her sleeping like she belonged in the princess’ room, she would get shackled and thrown in with her mother.

It had happened before and she wasn’t keen to repeat the experience. The thought of having annulment shackles slapped on again made her nauseous.

“I’ll put in the usual charms outside, anyone coming over to the floor will make about as much noise as an Umbra construct.” She approached the foot of the bed and leaned into Cereza with a sweet kiss. “Besides which, I’ll lock it. Nobody will think it odd and I’ll be back in under an hour.”

Cereza looked away briefly before returning the kiss, holding her close and letting her go just as promptly. “If you must.” She sassed and Jeanne smiled, a soft and caring thing that made Cereza’s heart somersault in her ribcage. “Go then princess, I need my beauty sleep.” She finished, wincing at her hurt midsection.” Quite literally.”

“ Be safe, I’ll be right back.”

* * *

 

Her heels clicked on the ancient stone floor with a methodical and driven cadence, the early hour discouraging any other witches from pottering about in her path.

She arrived at the dungeon and barely nodded at the gatekeeper. Nobody would dare ask her what her business was and she liked it like that.

The cages around her were of no interest to her despite the permanently agitated occupants and she soon reach the cell she had come to see.

“ She did it, better than anyone I have ever seen. Everyone was stunned stupid.” Pride bled into her tone and she didn’t bother to hide it.

The witch in front of her was still for a long time, the shackles weighing her down to the floor and in between the her cowl and hood, she was barely distinguishable from the drab grey of the walls.

Jeanne didn’t come down here by herself too often, the reality of their system became too hard to stomach in these days but she had to see this through.

“It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, it was historical! She came back, victorious and bloodied like a…a! An avenging avatar and the whole of the Umbra couldn’t deal with it”

With a slow, ponderous deliberation, Rosa lifted her head as best as her position allowed her and locked her dark grey eyes straight into Jeanne’s silver. “Who, little one?” She voiced, soft, too soft like a night breeze at a haunted cemetery.

“Madama Butterfly.”

Her eyebrows shot up well past her hood and even beneath the cowl, Jeanne could spot her surprise. Had she not been the daughter of a Lumen Sage, the feast in her honor would be grand after such a contract.

As it stood, only the cold comfort of the princess’ bedroom awaited her.

“Is she well? Has she been harmed?” Jeanne was almost taken aback by the vehemence of those words, of the display in strength she had never seen from Rosa before.

“She's…” she hesitated, her hands fidgeting with the hem of her top for a second. “ She’s exhausted but she’s safe, in the best place she can be and has everything she needs to feel better.”

The fight bled from Rosa’s frame as soon as it had flashed with a grating noise from her chains. “I’m sure she’s missing an important component. Thank you for letting me know.”

A dismissal that was subtle yet final in it’s execution, though Jeanne still had something else to say before she went off to fix the missing piece.

“I’m going to present her!” She blurted out and all of a sudden Rosa was on her feet, standing tall with the full, imposing power of the Left Eye of Darkness upon her. “At the Winter solstice.” Jeanne said with a finality she wasn’t quite sure of as it seemed. “I seek your blessing.”

Rosa was still for a long while, seemingly fixated on her and Jeanne squirmed under the scrutiny. “Do you understand the implications?” she started, the edge of her tone barbed and harsh. “do you know what this means, what you’ll put her through?”

Jeanne took a step back and her embarrassment burned hot. She wasn’t a child anymore, she knew what she was doing. “Did you? When you tangled with the sage?” She shot back and in the fraction of a second after she opened her mouth, she wished for Inferno to swallow her whole.

“I’m sorr-”

“You’ve your mother’s argumentative capacities, little one, no doubt about that.” Rosa settled back down again, the strain on the chain relaxing and the tension on her body easing away. “I did, thoroughly and I hope you have as well.”

Jeanne looked hopeful, her heart racing on her chest like one of her prized horses, the wild beat of a deer that had narrowly escaped a wolf.

“You have my blessings, may darkness enrapture your promise to my daughter and may it be taken to fruition.”

She felt like going inside, hugging Rosa, crying, something. Would she have gone ahead without her blessing? Well, yes she would but it was better if her ( future?) mother in law agreed with what she was doing.

“Thank you, thank you!” Jeanne gripped the bars and grinned, catching herself and straightening her back. She was the Heir after all and soon she would fight for her right to rule, she’d better behave like her station demanded.

“I know you’ll be handing in your letter of intent a few years down the line, Jeanne. I figure it’s better to not stop you.” Rosa said, a smile ghosting her features and she couldn’t figure out if that was a certainty or a threat.

She nodded and Rosa winked at her, causing a blush to cast over her cheeks once more. “Moon’s blessing, Matriarch.” She bowed, as was proper. “I will do my best.”

“Shoo now, I know someone who needs you more than I need to peacock my parental rights at you”

With one last bow, Jeanne was off the cell block with a definitive spring to her step. Sheba’s eternal glory, it had been a great day!

* * *

 

After she was healed up enough to stand unaided and they had celebrated to Inferno and back several times, Cereza had to return to her life.

Jeanne ranted and raved about how this would make her accepted, a proper Umbra and that nobody would ever dare harm her again.

That this would be freedom…but Jeanne had also taught her that sometimes laws changed but people did not, of the fulcral difference between de jure and de facto. Maybe she could no longer be harassed under their laws but that didn’t mean the other witches would obey it.

Jeanne squinted and her from her luxuriously rumpled bed and whined, extending an arm in her direction. “Must you go?” she mumbled, knowing full well what the answer was.

“I’m afraid so, at least go tell mummy I’m still alive and well.” Cereza replied, gathering her ratty clothes and going to wash her face and hands in the richly decorated basin on the far side of the apartment.

Jeanne blushed a bit and covered up her embarrassment with a cough, covering herself with the sheet. “Might be pleasant that she knows, yes. Can I meet up with you later? I have something I want to give you but I need to fetch it first.” She commented, her breezy tone betraying the seriousness of what she was going to attempt but she didn’t want Cereza to panic.

Cereza looked at her with a slight furrow of her brow, she sounded way too casual but something about the tension in her body made her keen Jeanne-knowing senses ping. What was she up to? “Yes but I need to procure some more supplies from the outside so I’ll be out most of the day.”

Jeanne nodded, plotting her day to accommodate that and still have time to fetch the bracelet she had commissioned from the demon smith himself.

With one final kiss, Cereza went to the door and waved her goodbyes. She was curious on what the day had in store for her but for now she needed to focus on how to best steal some food for herself.

It was Winter and the fields were bare of anything remotely edible, which meant she had to break into storage facilities and snag whatever she could. As she plotted, the wards near her room blared in alarm and she nearly jumped out of skin.

Fuck. It had started.

She tapped into her magic and she realized who it was. A looming blonde Witch, solid like an ancient oak and taller than even her mummy was stock still at her door and she knew she was Cornelia, head Tribunal and the Elder’s personal protection detail as well as Jeanne’s main carer during her formative years.

As with all other witches, Cereza avoided her like the plague and she knew that meeting up with such an important Umbra could only be bad news, especially when it was the highest advocate of law in Luna.

“I am not here to harm you, sister.” Fat fucking chance but Cereza knew she was trapped. Her only thing she could do was see what was requested of her and pray that the kick wouldn’t be too brutal.

She opened the door, her heart racing on her chest as the tall expanse of heavy Formal came into view. The power she exuded was insane and Cereza only wanted to flinch away and slink far from view before it could be turned on her.

“Congratulations are in order.” Cornelia said, hands behind her back and spine perfectly straight. For such a praise, it was delivered with an impeccable lack of emotion. “You may now own property and be protected under our laws.” If she objected to it at all, Cereza couldn’t tell. “You have been assigned new dwellings that reflects your status as an Umbra witch, please direct to the proper wing as outlined in the documents provided.”

With that, she presented her with a simple wooden box bearing the sigil of their Clan and Cereza nearly dropped it after what she had said. Property, protection, a new home?! What…

“Meet with the quartermaster for your work assignment. As of tomorrow, you are to present to the fisheries for management work.” She continued, droning on while Cereza just looked on with her mouth agape. “Your compensation is monetary in accordance with your experience bracket as well as in the form of basic sustenance. For every month of work, you are awarded an extra share of the labour you produce, in this case fishing products. Should you have any doubts, please consult the appropriate documents I have just handed to you or their source that can be found in the library.”

Cereza looked back down at the box and then at Cornelia’s taller form and she was floored at not being able to hint at any form of joke or entrapment.

“Due to your status, you must present in two months time for an aptitude evaluation to see if you’d thrive in more specialized environments. Usually this is done before a work assignment, however it’s best you have access to income and food before we can allocate you in a more appropriate position. Meal hall is open from 1 pm to 5 am.”

Apparently that was all she was required to say to Cereza but the whole of the information dump still had not cleared and there was a moment of long silence.

“Do you have any questions?” She tried, mask of distant politeness cracking a bit with her confusion. “Everything you need to know is in that box.”

“Yes! No I mean…” Cereza mumbled, yanking on the frayed end of her cowl in embarrassment. She just wanted this scrutiny to be over with soon. “Everything is fine.” She said but she remembered who she was talking too and hastily added. “Mistress? I uh go where darkness treads.” Jeanne had told her about the proper way to address an Umbra above her station before but she just had scoffed at that.

Never in her wildest dreams did she think she would ever need to have a neutral discussion with a full fledged Umbra Witch.

Cornelia nodded, if she was offended by her clunky formality she also did the favor of not showing. “I’ll take my leave, sister.”

And with that, she was off the ancient and dilapidated section and Cereza was left alone.

Left alone with the key to her freedom among her Clan.

A job, wealth, legal protection… food! Food she didn’t have to steal and maybe even a long, hot bath without having to break into the bathhouse or depend Jeanne’s admittedly very consistent good will.

She was Umbra and she was finally free.


End file.
